Heather Shapiro graduated from UC Davis in 2013 with a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Her research focused on using brain imaging and behavioral cognitive experiments to examine neural correlates of learning impairments in children with developmental disabilities. Heather is an alumna of the Business Development Fellows program 2010/11.

Heather is now the co-founder of Neurecall, an educational technology startup. We caught up with her in winter 2014 to learn more about her work.

What are you working on now?

I am co-founder of Neurecall, an educational technology startup that is developing an online learning platform grounded in principles of cognitive science. I am also a postdoc at the UC Davis MIND Institute, where I continue to follow on the work from my graduate research examining brain mechanisms of learning impairments in children with developmental disorders.

What was the most important lesson (or lessons) you learned as a Business Development Fellow?

That building a large and diverse network is key to increasing serendipity and success.

Did the Fellows program change how you viewed your research or future plans?

The program inspired me to think more broadly about the potential impact of my research and how I might apply scientific discoveries to the development of engaging, science-based products. Importantly, it also taught me that one mechanism through which I might do this is entrepreneurship—and it armed me with the tools and confidence to embark on that path.

What is your best advice for future Business Development Fellows?

To take advantage of every opportunity the program has to offer, and definitely work hard on the class projects. The amount of benefit that you will glean from the program is directly related to the effort that you put into it.

Biodegradable plastics from wastewater

John Bissell is the CEO and co-founder of Micromidas, Inc., an industrial biotechnology company that is converting municipal wastewater sludge into bio-degradable plastic.

Each day, millions of tons of useless plastic waste accumulate in the environment, sending landfills past capacity and playing a role in the ever-rising costs of garbage disposal. MicroMidas has developed a process for converting organic waste streams like municipal waste water, agricultural and food waste, into pure-grade polyhydroxylalkanoate, a highly marketable biodegradable plastic.

The process consumes carbon and other nutrients from the waste stream that
would otherwise have to undergo such costly processes as incineration or
chemical treatment. The research and technology won first place in the 2008
U.S. EPA People, Prosperity, and Planet (P3) competition for sustainability.

At Micromidas, John has helped raise $13 million in financing. The most recent round, in 2013, will enable Micromidas to build a demonstration-scale plant in West Sacramento to prove the viability of its technology.

John is an alumnus of the University California Davis where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He is also an alumnus of the Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy, 2008.

(UPDATED OCTOBER 2013:) Anthony is a postdoctoral researcher in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UC Davis. He works with a team of engineers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Green Transportation Lab, where they perform thermal and fluid analysis of advanced energy systems.His lab specializes in nuclear-based imaging of fuel cell and battery technology that allows a 3D rendering of critical internal phenomena.Such work is useful for both academia and industry because it provides insight into overall design and function of these systems that is otherwise unattainable. They collaborate with several industry partners, including Daimler.

Anthony was a Business Development Fellow in 2011/12. He competed and placed second in the Big Bang! with the team EcoCatalytics in 2011. The following interview is from 2012.

What are you most passionate about in your work?

Working with a solid team of engineers and scientists on high-stakes projects is very enjoyable. The nonlinear environment and multitude of projects that require both analytical and creative thinking make every day a new adventure.

How will the Business Development Fellows program help you to change the world?

Much time in research is spent problem solving and trouble shooting. I’d like the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in the technical world to other areas, whether it be entrepreneurial or management type positions.

(UPDATED OCTOBER 2013): Lorna de Leoz is currently employed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Mass Spectrometry Data Center.

Lorna has a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Davis, a Master of Science in chemistry and Bachelor of Science degrees in computer engineering and chemistry, all earned at Ateneo de Manila University. Lorna is a Food and Health Entrepreneurship Academy and Business Development Fellow alumna. The following Q & A took place in 2011.

What’s important about your research—and where do you hope to take it?

My research focuses on using mass spectrometry for health and nutrition research. I am particularly interested in discovering oligosaccharide biomarkers for diseases such as cancer and necrotizing enterocolitis.

What are you most passionate about in your work?

I have always been fascinated by what chemistry can do in other fields of science, especially medicine. When I was little, I dreamed of being a doctor of medicine and curing people free of charge. My interest shifted to chemistry, but the call to help is still there. I may never be a doctor of medicine, but I still want to make a difference through my research on biomarker discovery.

How will the Business Development Fellows program help you to change the world?

I am part of a team that formed a company called Pedianostics to develop rapid, noninvasive, innovative and accurate diagnostic tests to monitor diseases in children, enabling earlier, improved and personalized treatment. I am confident that the Business Development Fellows program can help me bring our research into the market effectively.

What is the most important of all the lessons learned through the center?

I’ve learned that entrepreneurship is about recombinant innovations—that is, using existing ideas and applying them in a new context. These ideas are usually formed out of collaborations and interactions with other people. Thus, in order to do amazing innovations, you must be willing to expand your social networks.

What’s next (after UC Davis)?

I am deciding between offers at this point. But I expect to continue expanding my networks. The Entrepreneurship Academy, the Big Bang! competition and the Business Development Fellows program have changed me completely. I can’t thank
the center enough for bringing out the entrepreneurial spirit in me.

Lori Miller is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the UC Davis Health System, Sacramento campus. She earned a doctor of philosophy in nursing science at the University of Washington, where she concurrently earned an Advanced Practice Environment Health Nursing Certificate.She also completed advanced interdisciplinary training in demography and ecology and earned a master of science in public health genetics. In addition, she holds a master of public health in epidemiology from Florida International University and a bachelor of science in biology from Tuskegee University.

This interview took place in 2012. Lori is an alumna of the Business Development Fellows program 2012/13.

What’s important about your research—and where do you hope to take it?

My research is focused in the area of healthy systems, with an emphasis on childhood obesity prevention and reducing related racial/ethnic health disparities. Specifically, my research examines the direct and indirect effects of school and afterschool physical activity policies on K–12th grade students’ adherence to standards and subsequent weight outcomes. This research is particularly important, for little is know about policy effectiveness related to childhood obesity prevention, student physical activity behaviors and weight-related outcomes. Efforts to advance this area of research provide an evidence base for implementing effective obesity-related policies as well as developing novel policy-based interventions.

What are you most passionate about in your work?

I am most passionate about developing novel evidence-based interventions that will not only help preteen and teens (especially black girls) effectively prevent unhealthy weight gain and improve fitness levels but promote healthy youth development. I am especially proud that the postdoctoral fellows program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing affords me opportunities to innovatively expand my dissertation research and develop its commercial potential.

How will the Business Development Fellows program help you change the world?

I am most passionate about developing novel evidence-based interventions that will not only help preteen and teens (especially black girls) effectively prevent unhealthy weight gain and improve fitness levels but promote healthy youth development. I am especially proud that the postdoctoral fellows program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing affords me opportunities to innovatively expand my dissertation research and develop its commercial potential.

Jenny Chang graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree with honors in genetics.During her undergraduate career, she received a Hilldale/Holstrom award for research, and participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in 2005. She began hergraduate school training at Loyola University of Chicago prior to moving to UC Davis in 2008 with her advisor. Currently, she is on a two-year predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association to fund her dissertation project.

The following interview took place in 2011. Jenny is an alumnus of the Business Development Fellows Program 2011/12.

What’s important about your research—and where do you hope to take it?

My lab focuses on how the heart works and the underlying mechanism of many heart diseases. We are interested in the basic cellular changes that occur when the heart is subjected to various stress stimuli, such as pressure, drugs and electric signals. I am studying the activation and functions of an emerging kinase—protein kinase D—and its importance in hypertrophy and heart failure.

What are you most passionate about in your work?

I am driven by the potential to help people who suffer from heart failure. Protein kinase D is an important transducer of mediating external stress signals to intracellular functions. It has an important role in the onset of hypertrophy, which progresses into heart failure over time. I believe that, in the near future, my research will identify how this protein can be used to diagnose and treat hypertrophy and heart failure.

How will the Business Development Fellows program help you to change the world?

I’m learning how to build a team, put an idea into practice, and market an idea or product to the general public. My long-term goal is to use my research expertise to develop an effective and affordable therapeutic drug for patients who are suffering from heart disease. I believe that my experiences as a Business Development Fellow will teach me how to translate my ideas into products that have real impact in the real

Tim Keller MBA 08 has a dream—and the persistence to make it a reality. A UC Davis viticulture and enology alumnus, Keller worked for 12 years as a winemaker in Sonoma and Napa counties before enrolling in the Graduate School of Management.

Today he’s the co-founder and CEO of VinPerfect, maker of a revolutionary screwcap for wine bottles that is poised to turn the 21-billion-unit annual global market for wine closures on its head. He’s joined in this quest by former classmate Collin Casper MBA 08, VinPerfect’s co-founder and COO.

Winemaking is both an art and a science, made challenging and kept interesting by many nuances, among them the amount of oxygen a wine needs and receives once crafted and in the bottle. While all wines consume oxygen, the optimal amount depends on the variety and winemaking style.

VinPerfect’s high-performance screwcap has a patent-pending liner that allows winemakers to specify how much oxygen enters a wine bottle over time. The technology, says Keller, is a quantum improvement over both traditional and synthetic cork and conventional screwcaps, all of which can damage and taint wine, to the tune of almost a million bottles a day.

Keller developed the prototype for his cap while an MBA student, taking the $15,000 grand prize in the 2008 Big Bang! Business Plan Competition. His involvement in the contest helped set the stage for VinPerfect’s success.

“Our Big Bang! and GSM connections have been integral to our growth,” says Casper. “They’ve led us to some of our best industry contacts and biggest investors—including the Sacramento Angels.”

Following an extended R & D period, VinPerfect debuted its cap at the 2011 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, and started selling its product in January 2012. Last summer the start-up moved to new offices and a production facility in Napa Valley.

Its Series A-1 investment round brought in more than a half-million dollars, and VinPerfect recently sold its one-millionth unit. “But most important to me,” says Keller, “is that within our first year we earned customers who took a chance on our product are coming back with repeat orders.”

Goals for 2013 include growing sales to 12 million units—roughly $2 million in gross revenue— and expansion into new markets in the Pacific Northwest and across the globe, including Australia and New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Chile/Argentina.

“Had you asked me before I began my MBA career if I would be an entrepreneur, the answer would be an emphatic ‘no’, says Casper. “Now I can’t see doing anything else.”

2012/13 Business Development Fellow Morteza Roodgar is working on a new, more sensitive test for tuberculosis. But in the nation’s capital recently, he worked the halls of Congress as a participant in the annual UC Day in D.C. to advocate for federal support of the university.

Graham Ryland is passionate about creating robots that inspire young people to pursue careers in engineering and science. He focused on modular robotics for his graduate work at UC Davis, and was bitten by the entrepreneurship bug at the UC Entrepreneurship Academy in 2008—an early experience with the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship that has deepened into a rewarding relationship. In 2010 Ryland founded Barobo Inc., an educational robotics start-up, with his faculty advisor, College of Engineering Professor Harry Cheng.

(Davis, CA) — The UC Davis Part-Time MBA program offered in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area is ranked among the top 9% in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report’s latest graduate business school rankings.

At No. 29, this is the fourth consecutive year the UC Davis Part-Time MBA program is among the top AACSB International-accredited part-time MBA programs surveyed. This year, there were 323 part-time MBA programs surveyed.

(Davis, CA) — The UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s Full-Time MBA program is ranked among the premier business schools in the nation for the 20th consecutive year, according to U.S. News & World Report’s latest graduate business school rankings released today.

U.S. News’ latest ranking places the Full-Time MBA program at No. 48, placing it among the top 10% of the 464 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International’s accredited full-time MBA programs surveyed.

(Davis, Calif.) – With a joint goal of speeding the transfer of new technologies from the laboratory to the commercial marketplace, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories have announced a new partnership for researchers to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

What opportunities, decisions, events have shaped your professional life?

My career path has been a climb across a jungle gym rather than a tangent up a corporate ladder. As a child, I used to thumb through the three-inch JCPenney catalogue, picking out the professional women who I would grow to be. I wanted to rule the world from a corner office in a suit and heels. I wanted to shed my humble origins and become Corporate Barbie.

Agilent Technologies’ Electronic Measurement Group is a $3.6 billion business that over the past decade has seen a dramatic shift in its customer base from U.S., and Western European customers to predominantly Asia-based customers. Today, the majority of the division’s revenues are generated outside of the U.S., with an increasing concentration in China.